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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24109273">Slow Dancing In A Burning Room</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/xLoveMx/pseuds/xLoveMx'>xLoveMx</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Critical Role (Web Series)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, F/M, Implied Torture, Mind Control, Prepare for some pain, this is darker than i thought it would be</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-03 00:54:42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,259</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24109273</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/xLoveMx/pseuds/xLoveMx</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“Dance with me, Caleb!” The familiar tune mixed with her voice, and he found himself being pulled from his seat, the rest of the room almost a blur. Where were they again? Maybe he’d been drinking, it wasn’t entirely unlikely.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jester Lavorre/Caleb Widogast</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>58</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Slow Dancing In A Burning Room</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This week's prompt for the widojest hiatus prompts! After all the fluff I figured I'd hit you with some angst for a change. <br/>*hands over some cinnamon pastries*</p>
<p> </p>
<p>PS: Zeminan ( German ) translations at the end of the story!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The tune in the air was familiar to him.</p>
<p>Not necessarily because he had heard this exact one before, but because it reminded him of a night that seemed to be years in the past at this point. Things had still been so different back then, they hadn’t all fully trusted each other, but they had saved each other’s lives. Multiple times. Molly had still been around, and Jester had asked him to dance.</p>
<p>He had been drunk, but her hands had been warm, and her familiar smell had lingered in his nose long after she had tucked him into bed.</p>
<p>Love had been the furthest thing from Caleb’s mind at that time, and then Jester had come around and almost effortlessly pulled him in, making his life less terrible and his heart beat faster whenever he thought about her.</p>
<p>It was dangerous, to care about someone so much, he told himself that over and over again, but whenever he tried to distance himself Jester pulled him right back in with a smile or a touch of her hand, and maybe being in love with her wasn’t the worst thing in the world after all.</p>
<p>He never said a word about it though, to no one, and yet Yasha seemed to have noticed. Maybe it was because they were similar in their nature, and Caleb hadn’t missed the way Yasha was looking at Beau either. Like they could be each other’s everything, but Yasha didn’t feel like she deserved it.</p>
<p>Caleb knew that feeling all too well.</p>
<p>It could have been almost tragic, if it hadn’t been a self-inflicted wound. Jester believed in him, believed that he was a good person, despite everything he had done, and yet he would rather let himself bleed dry than to admit that he loved her, because that would mean tearing down every wall he had built up over the years, and it was worse, because he had been so close to doing it multiple times. But tearing those walls down also meant exposing her to the people that were after him and wouldn’t stop until they had him.</p>
<p><em>“Dance with me, Caleb!”</em> The familiar tune mixed with her voice, and he found himself being pulled from his seat, the rest of the room almost a blur. Where were they again? Maybe he’d been drinking, it wasn’t entirely unlikely.</p>
<p>Jester’s arms wrapped around his neck and she was smiling, making Caleb blush as they swayed around to the familiar tune that floated through the air. It was a waltz, and he hadn’t gotten much better at dancing, his legs were still a little shaky and it was a surprise they hadn’t bumped into someone yet.</p>
<p>Not that he could really see anyone in the room anyways, but still.</p>
<p>For a moment there seemed to almost be a glitch in the music, like a string had broken, and Caleb looked around, but he couldn’t find the exact spot the music was coming from. The room was still blurry, and when he turned back towards Jester, even she seemed to be blurring around the edges.</p>
<p>“I really need to stop drinking…” he whispered with a chuckle, shaking his head. The entire place was warm, too. His cheeks heating up from something other than the blush, and maybe they could open the window for a moment?</p>
<p>He didn’t want to step outside, because that meant stopping the dance, and if he could Caleb would spend the rest of his life swaying around this makeshift dance floor with Jester.</p>
<p>It was selfish, of course, but just for this moment he allowed himself to be just that.</p>
<p><em>“Caleb,”</em> Her voice pulled him from his thoughts, and he noticed the glitch in the music again. This time it seemed like it was starting again from the beginning, as if it had just stopped midway and decided to go back to repeat itself.</p>
<p>“Die sollten sich wohl mal neue Instrumente kaufen…“ He almost stumbled over the words, because while they made sense in his head he could see that Jester hadn’t understood a thing. “Ich sagte…” He began, frowning ever so slightly when the words just wouldn’t come out in the right language.</p>
<p><em>“Caleb?”</em> Jester asked, cocking her head to the side and when he looked down at her she didn’t seem like she was warm at all, despite how much the room temperature had risen during the past couple of minutes. He could feel sweat gathering at his temple, and he felt it dripping down the side of his face.</p>
<p>The music jumped again, and when Caleb looked again, Jester was holding onto his arms, which were covered in bandages.</p>
<p>Hadn’t he taken them off a long time ago?</p>
<p><em>“Caleb!”</em> He looked up to find Jester’s eyes wide, and the blur of the room had suddenly changed into something almost like an amber glow. It took him a moment to realize that it wasn’t alcohol obscuring his vision. The entire room was on fire.</p>
<p>“Was…?” He almost choked out, the music now fading out, glitching again and again as it went, almost sounded like a horrible scream that was echoing off the walls.</p>
<p><em>“Oh Caleb, es ist schon zu lange her</em>,“ A voice tugged at his mind, and he felt his heart sinking.</p>
<p>
  <em>No. No. No…this couldn’t be…</em>
</p>
<p>“Jester, du musst…” He stopped himself again, the confusion and fear that widened her eyes breaking his heart in so many places that he wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to put it back together. “Es tut mir leid,” He muttered, before tearing his arms from her grip and pushing her away as hard as he could.</p>
<p>There was a moment where their eyes met, and there were so many things Caleb wished he could say, things he had left unsaid for the fear of losing her in one way or another.</p>
<p>Without thinking about it, he pulled the needed ingredients from his pockets and slapped his hands together, the familiar wall of fire, that had saved their lives so many times, flared up, separating Jester from him and whatever was lurking here with him.</p>
<p>
  <em>“Caleb!” </em>
</p>
<p>Her scream echoed in his mind, and then there was complete darkness all of a sudden. Caleb’s heart was racing in his chest as he found himself blinking, just barely making out the stone floor he was laying on.</p>
<p>“Oh, du bist wach,” A familiar voice cut through the air, gripping his heart with cold fear. “You’re awake.”</p>
<p>Caleb’s entire body was hurting, and now that his eyes had somewhat gotten used to the darkness, he looked down on himself. His clothes were torn in places, the scars on his arms seemed even more prominent, and his fingers were black and charred, almost as if they had been burned.</p>
<p>“Memory is a fickle thing,” The voice added with a slight chuckle that made Caleb’s chest tighten. “It’s like I told you: You need allies, but friendship and love? Those things make you weak, they hold you back. Ich bin enttäuscht. I’m disappointed in you, Bren.”</p>
<p>A familiar face had appeared behind the bars that were keeping him restrained in this room, and its lips were curved upward into a terrifying smile.</p>
<p>With the snap of fingers Caleb felt something pushing at his mind again, and all of a sudden that familiar tune was back. A gentle waltz that played on and on, even through his own screams, and the figure’s laugh as it stepped away from the bars, leaving him in total darkness again.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Translations are as followed:</p>
<p>"Die sollten sich wohl mal neue Instrumente kaufen..." = "They should probably buy some new instruments..."<br/>"Ich sagte..." = "I said..."<br/>"Was?" = "What?"<br/>"Oh Caleb, es ist schon zu lange her..." = "Oh Caleb, it's been too long."<br/>"Jester, du musst..." = "Jester, you have to..."<br/>"Es tut mir leid," = "I'm sorry."<br/>"Oh, du bist wach." = "Oh, you're awake."<br/>"Ich bin enttäuscht," = "I'm disappointed."</p></blockquote></div></div>
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